Lee, F., Edmondson, A. C., Thomke, S., &Worline, M. (2004). The mixed effects of inconsistency on experimentation in organizations. Organization Science, 15(3), 310-326.
This paper examines how the inconsistency of organizational conditions affects people's willingness to engage in experimentation, a behavior integral to innovation. Because failures are inevitable in the experimentation process, we argue that conditions giving rise to psychological safety reduce fear of failure and promote experimentation. Based on this reasoning, we suggest that inconsistent organizational conditions—when some support experimentation and others do not—inhibit experimentation behaviors. An ...